Receive the latest entertainment-news updates in your inbox

Students Take to Streets on Anniversary of Parkland Shooting

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School and other schools across the country walked out of class to honor the victims of the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida, and to push for changes to gun laws. (Published Wednesday, March 14, 2018)

Days after a gunman stormed their Florida school and killed 17 people, two young survivors wrote a song about their grief and healing. On Friday, those Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students released their song for the world to hear.

The inspirational power-ballad is called "Shine," and the students said on their YouTube page that it "is dedicated in loving memory of the 17 victims" of the Feb. 14 massacre. All proceeds will go toward their non-profit, Shine MSD, which helps fund recovery efforts for the victims and families affected by the shooting, as well as mental health programs centered around the arts.

Sawyer Garrity and Andrea Pena penned the original song "as a creative outlet so our voices and the voices of those 17 could be heard and never forgotten," Pena wrote on Twitter.

It's packed with emotional lyrics that illustrate the trauma they experienced and how they are fighting to overcome it. A single piano leads the track with rich harmonies and powerful strings filling the background until the song reaches a crescendo with drums.

Shine is out!! So happy we can finally share this song to people who need it just as much as we did/do if not more❤️✨ pic.twitter.com/RttQkefhQn

Garrity and Pena were moved to record and release "Shine" after performing it at the Feb. 21 CNN Town Hall event along with several other students.

"What started as a personal healing journey quickly grew into an anthem met with an overwhelming response," their website says. "Sawyer, Andrea, their families and friends realized the power of healing through artistic expression, and the positive impact the arts has in inspiring hope and unity in the aftermath of tragedy."